Mosaic frame and method of making mosaic maps



Jan. 3, 1956 w. s. KARR ETAL MOsAIc FRAME ANO METHOD OF MAKING MOSAICMAPS 3 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Jan. 25, 1952 O w mA 9 2 O n u A L r ITIIIII..- o 7 :..Lll ILII- I9. I lnlr m u Q I n m n m m: m a? n um I. f..IIII I 0 4 2 2 -I IIILEIIPIII .III J n E I m FIGURE I FIGURE 3 Jan. 3,1956 w. s. KARR ETAL 2,728,986

MosAIc FRAME AND METHOD oF MAKING MosAlc MAPS INVENTOR.

WILLIAM SHIRLEY KARR By ALvA F. WARREN FIGURE 7 Jan. 3, 1956 w, s. KARRx-:TAL 2,728,986

MOSAIC FRAME AND METHOD OF MAKING MOSAIC MAPS iled Jan. 23, 1952 5Sheets-Sheet 3 FIGURE e WHITECOUNI'Y y INVENToR. j WILLIAM SHIRLEY KARRSCALE BY ALVA F. WARREN FlsuRE n fm v 2,728,985 .A Y n MOSAIC FRAME ANDMETHOD oF MAKING MosAIc MAPS William Shirley Karr and Alva F. Warren,Lansing, Mich.,

assignors to Abrams Aerial Survey Corporation, Lansing, Mich., acorporation of Michigan Application January 23, 1952, 'Serial No,267,892 3 Claims. (Cl. 'S3-@1) This invention relates to the art ofmaking maps from a series of relatedaerial photographs. It isparticularly directed to the production fof mosaics of individual unitsof the entire area to be mapped. f

In making a photographic mosaic of terrainV to be mapped, a series ofoverlapping aerial photographs is taken of the terrain. From these,ratioed prints are made which have been corrected for tip' and 'tiltofthe air'- plane and also for diierences in its elevation. By means ofground survey and by radial line control prominent control points arelocated and are plotted upon a control base. The control base is ruledinto quadrangles drawn to a suitable scale, the quadrangles beingbounded by parallels of latitude and meridians of longitude. Usually thequadranges subtend 71/24 or 1`5 minutes in each direction, and of coursecan be to any suitable scale.

The photographs are pasted upon the base in proper coordination with thecontrol points, thereby resulting in a mosaic map of the entire area;The map is divided into units by lines representing parallels andmeridians." A border of whitepaper is mounted around each unit, theborder carrying suitable indicia, the unit and border reproduced byphotographs.

The border necessarily covers partot adjacent units so it is necessaryto remove the border, and apply a bor der to the adjoining unit forphotographing it. These operations are time consuming.

The present invention has for its principal object the improving ofthisVprocess by providing av base made up of units of accurate sizepermittingy separation of the'units after several are mosaiced so thateach unit can be reproduced separately, and also permitting mosaicing ofother units without completing theentire map at one time.

Another object is to provide a method of mosaicin'g in which thenecessity of transferring control, particularly if established bytheradial linecontrol method, from a separate base to the mosaic boards bythe use of overlays is eliminated, thereby preventing errors duringtransfer.

A still Yfurther object is to provide a method of the charactermentioned in which control information can be plotted directly onthe'mosaic' board assembly and carried across the entire area ahead ofthe Vmosaicing operation.

A further object is to provide a method of mosaicing such that themosaic boards may be Vreassembled at any time after completion formaking a study of an area larger than a single board, or forreproduction as a unit.

Another object is to eliminate the necessity of cutting away overlappingportions of the mosaic outside of the edges of the geographic lines ofeach quadrangle and reassembling these portions onto adjoiningquadrangles in order to maintain a detail match between quadrangles.

These objects will more fully appear in the following specification whenread in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a plan view showing assembly of mosaic boards on the frame;

fice

the mosaic board assembly Figure 6 is a plan view of the mosaic boardassemblyy with primary control points plotted thereon;

Figure 7 is a plan viewof the mosaic board assembly with a partiallycompleted mosaic thereon;

Figure 8 is a view similar to Figure 7 showing the mosaic completed andwith one mosaic board removed;

Figure 9 is a plan view of a mosaic copying frame;

Figure 10 is a cross-sectional view taken on substantially the line10-10 of Figure 9; and y Figure 11 is a plan View of a completed mosaicquadrangle.

Referring now to the drawings in more detail, Figures 1 and 2 illustratea mosaic board assembly 10 mounted on ay stand 11. v

The mosaic board assembly is composed of a plurality of strips of wood12, 13, 14 and 15 and a plurality'iof mosaic boards 16 to 27 inclusive.The boards are attached to the strips 12 to 15 as will be more fullypointed out hereinafter.

The stand 11 (see Figure 2) consists of two (or more) trestles 28 and29, to which are bolted three (or more) cross pieces 30, 31 and 32 bybolts 33. (See Figure 4.)

The mosaic boards 16 to 27 are made from very hard, smooth material,such as tempered Masonite They are very carefullymachined on their edgesto dimensions representing quadrangles in the finished survey. Thus theedges correspond to geographic lines Asuch as meridians of longitude andparallels of latitude in polyconic projection. Each quadrangle usuallyrepresents 71/2 or 15 minutes of angle in each direction. This isillustrated in Figure 3 which shows a mosaic board made to represent71/2 minutes of angle, and as can be seen, will not be trulyrectangular. These mosaic boards can also be machined to dimensionsrepresenting quadrangles in other projections or areas formed by gridlines at Avarious scales.

In each corner of each board is a head of a Chicago screw 34 (seeFigures 3 and 5) set iiush with the upper surface of the board andterminating at or short of the lower surface. The boards 16 to 27 areattached to the .strips 12 to 15 by screws 35 extending through slots 36(see Figure 4), in the strips 12 to 15 in the manner indicated in Figure5. The slots 36 (see Figures 1 and 4) are provided to permit adjustmentof the boards in abutting relationship. That is necessary because inmany cases as in polyconicprojections two opposite edges of the boardsare not parallel, but converge very slightly as do meridians oflongitude. In all cases they provide an adjustment so that the mosaicboards can be iitted tightly together even when the holes 34 (see Figure3) are not exactly located.

lt will benoted that only three horizontal rows of boards are shown.Only two rows of mosaic boards are necessary for the mosaicingoperation, because as soon as the bottom row is covered with the mosaicand a start is made completely across the second row, the iirst row maybe cut away, the second row moved down and a new row added to replacethe original row, as will more fully appear presently. However, threerows or" boards set up on the assembly frame at a time are preferable,because it permits plotting of control ahead of mosaicing.

Figures 9 and l0 of the drawings show a frame 37 for holding theindividual quadrangles while being provided with a border and beingphotographed. lt may be formed of any suitable material, but preferablyit is formed of wooden strips attached together at the corners. Thestrips are of the same thickness as the mosaic boards 16 to 27, and thedimensions of the frame are` such as to tit the largest board closely.Actually it will fit all of the boards reasonably closely as there isvery little difference in the sizes of the mosaic boards.

At each end of the frame, and attached to the underside thereof, aresupporting strips 3S. These strips have portions thereof underlying theopen portion of the frame, as clearly shown in Figure 9, to support themosaic boards in the frame. The strips 38 have slots 39 therein throughwhich the Chicago screws 35 (see Figure 5) may be threaded into heads 34in the boards to fasten each board to the frame. A board is shown inplace in Figure ll, of which more will be said later` In carrying outthe method of the'present invention, the procedure is common practice tothe time actual mosai'cing is begun. The necessary properly restitutedand ratioed photographs are prepared from the original flight negatives.

Figure 6 shows threey rows of boards mounted on the mosaic assemblyframe. Ground control points 4th are plotted on the mosaic boards in theusual manner, by pricking holes in the proper locations with a tineneedle and suitably identifying them. The edges of the boards themselvesrepresent the geographic lines, i. e., meridians and parallels.Mosaicing is then commenced by pasting the corrected photographs on theboards, being careful to locate the ground control points on thephotographs in proper register with the corresponding points on theboards. This is done by means of the pricked holes in the mosaic boards.

Mosaicing is carried on across all of the boards in the rst or bottomtier (in Figure 7) of boards, and started on the second tier, asindicated in Figure 7. The geographic lines 4l and 42 (i. e. parallelsand meridians, respectively) are then drawn on the mosaic in the rst twotiers directly over the adjoining edges of the mosaic boards. The linescan be twice the thickness allowed by the specifications laid down forthe mosaic map. The mosaic quadrangles in the first row are thencarefully cut apart by splitting the geographic lines 4l and 42 with arazor blade or sharp knife and cutting through into the slit betweenadjacent mosaic boards. The boards can then be removed individually fromthe frame. See Figure S wherein board number 24 has been cut out andremoved.

The mosaic boards in the remaining tiers with the mosaic partiallyVcompleted thereon are moved as a unit to the opposite side of the frame,other boards are added to form another tier, and mosaicing is carried onas before.

The boards which have been removed can then be turned over to variousindividuals for completion and photographing.

ln completing each quadrange it is placed in copying frame 37 (seeFigure 9) and secured therein by the Chicago screws. All names ornumbers identifying features or control are placed on the map. Contoursalso may be shown if desired. A border of white paper 43 (see Figure ll) is placed on the frame 37 around and abutting the edge of the mosaicquadrangle placed therein. On that border may be printed desiredidentifying material for the quadrangle, after which the quadrangle andborder may be photographed as a unit for reproduction.

The boards can all be reassembled without their borders and can bephotographed for reproduction as a unit, where an overall map of themapped area is desired. Either the entire assembly can be reassembledfor photographing or any portion thereof.

Accordingly, it will be seen' that the present invention is a greatimprovement over the prior practices. lt permits speedier completion ofthe entire map as more persons can work on the project Wtihoutinterfering with each other. Furthermore, the individual mosaic boardscan be reassembled to show the complete arca mapped if desired or anyportion thereof. Also the necessity of transferring the controlinformation from a separate base to the mosaic boards is eliminated.

The scope of the invention is indicated by the appended claims.

We claim:

1. The method of making mosaic maps which comprises the stepsofproviding a mosaic kassembly support comprising a frame and aplurality of mosaic boards detachablyv connected theretov in a commonplane, said mosaic boards being arranged in abutting relationship in aplurality of abutting rows, said boards being accurately cut to scaleand representing quadrangles of the area to be mapped, plotting on saidboards ground control points, assembling bythe aid of said controlpoints on the first row and at least a portion of the second row aphotographic mosaic of the terrain to be mapped, cutting the mosaicboards in the rst row from those in the second row and from each otherat the edges of the abutting boards and removing those boards from theframe, and moving the remaining mosaic boards on the frame to permit theaddition of another row of boards adjoining the farthest removed fromthe first row, so that additional control may be plotted on the addedrow.

2. The method of making mosaic maps which comprises the steps ofproviding a mosaic assembly support comprisinga frame and a plurality ofmosaic boards detachably connected thereto in a common plane, saidmosaic boards being arranged in abutting relationshipin a plurality ofabutting rows, said boards being accurately cut to scale andrepresenting quadranglesof the area to be mapped, plotting on saidboards ground control points, assembling by the aid of said controlpoints on at least one board in the rst row and also a portion of theboards adjoining said iirst mentioned board a photographic mosaic of theterrain tobe mapped, cutting the mosaic on the iirst mentioned boardfrom the mosaic on the adjoining boards and removing said rst mentionedboard from the frame.

3. The method according to claim 2 wherein an individual mosaic board ismounted in a frame after separation from the adjoining boards and anindicia carrying border is mounted on the frame in abutting relationshipto the edges of the board.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS863,670 Summers Aug. 20, 1907 1,537,634 Watson May 12, 1925 2,352,413Schuch et al June 27, 1944

